Herbert Keller (Artistic Director)

August Herbert Keller (* 1922 in Berlin ; † February 15, 1990 in Dessau ) was a German theater director and lyricist .

Career

After the war he started working for the Volksbühne Berlin and then worked at the Central House for Lay Art in Leipzig as head of the “Artistic Word” department. In 1959 he was appointed director of the Thomas Müntzer Theater in Eisleben . Here he was considered a promoter of contemporary drama and a young playwright. Five years later he took over the management in Cottbus . From 1969 to 1972 he headed the District Culture Academy in Halle. From 1972 to 1983 he was artistic director at the State Theater in Dessau . In 1983 he tried to win Ulf Reiher as a guest director. The reasons for which he had to resign from this position were later assessed as inadmissible. His successor was Peter Gogler . He then worked as a research assistant at the Academy of the Arts in the GDR until his retirement . He was also active as a writer. He was still able to experience his political rehabilitation. Posthumously named him the country's Theater Dessau honorary member.

plant

In 1951 he wrote the song of the pioneer organization Ernst Thälmann Unser Heimat (to the melody of Hans Naumilkat ). The unity song (friendship, unity, peace) from the friendship cantata of the youth by Herbert Keller and Andre Asriel was also enthusiastically sung ; when it suddenly turned out to be out of date, it disappeared from the song books. Germany followed in 1952 , you dear homeland! again with Naumilkat. With Siegfried Stolte which followed song of the red Arbeitermai and the word has called us to fight (1958).

He was the author of the much-discussed agitprop piece about questions of flight from the republic, encounter 57 (Hein, a worker in Dortmund, wants to go to Leipzig because he can't stand it in the Federal Republic. Friedrich, a worker in Leipzig, wants to flee to Dortmund because He doesn't like it in the GDR.) In the foreword, Keller explained: “I don't consider the term modern . I find socialist more concrete. ”With Herbert Keller and Wera and Claus Küchenmeister he is counted on the affirmative wing.

Publications

• The dam.
• The dramatic circle - the higher form of the amateur theater group.
• You can learn to win from them. In: The folk art.
• Stanislavski's findings for the Dramatic Circle. In: The folk art. 11/1953, p. 35.

literature

• Theater of time . Volume 45 (1990), Issues 5-8, page 70.
• Birgit Mache: In the spotlight. 100 years of theater at Schillerplatz in Cottbus. 2008, p. 150.